Reseda, Los Angeles

Reseda (IPA: [ɹəˈsidə]) is a district in the San Fernando Valley in the City of Los Angeles, California.

History

The area now known as Reseda was originally inhabited by Native Americans of the Tongva tribe that lived close to the Los Angeles River. The vegetation was plentiful, and the natives had to work only two hours per day to support themselves.

Reseda originated as a farm town named "Marian" (or "Rancho Marian") that appeared in 1912. Its namesake, Marian Otis Chandler, was the daughter of Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis, a director of the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. About 1920, Reseda—named after a fragrant North African yellow-dye plant, Reseda odorata, which grows in hot, dry climates—replaced Marian as a designation for a stop on the Pacific Electric interurban railway running along Sherman Way.

The population of Reseda was 1,805 in 1930 and 4,147 in 1940. By 1950 it had topped 16,000, but the Ventura Freeway lay 10 years in the future, and most Reseda residents still bought fresh eggs, milk, honey and vegetables at stands along Ventura Boulevard. The name "Reseda" was given first to a siding on a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the south San Fernando Valley.

Development into a suburb

Reseda was one of the first suburbs in the San Fernando Valley. Its large ranches were sub-divided and the area was developed by realtors just as the veterans of World War II were returning home. The earliest families came to live among orange groves which were successively plowed under in favor of housing. At the time, most of the jobs were in the Los Angeles Basin, to the south, over the Santa Monica mountains.

By 1950, the Valley's population reached 400,000. The average new Valley home, in 1949, cost $9,000. By 1955, that same house could be resold for nearly $15,000. But even at that price, a household income only had to be $6,000 a year, not at all difficult, considering Valley incomes continued to hover above the national average.

By 1960, the average market value of a Valley home reached $18,850. During the 1970s, however, these costs and income patterns over the rest of the country began to reverse. Land and housing costs shot upward, while most incomes only crept. By the beginning of the 1980s, the average price of a home in the Valley reached $110,000. According to a 2004 study by the U.S. Bureau of the Census it has reached triple that of the beginning of the 1980s.

Although home values continued to increase, the Caucasian population stopped growing in the early 1980s. As the white population decreased due to aging and a lower birth rate, Latino immigrants continued moving into the area. At the same time, a variety of factors led to a decreasing level of income, from discrimination to gang problems and the changing economy of the Los Angeles area that is losing blue collar unionized jobs. As a result, the neighborhood changed from a middle-class neighborhood back to its working-class roots.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 68,002 people (estimated 77,250 in 2006) and 22,811 households. The ethnic makeup of Reseda was 34.6% White American, 65.2% Hispanic American, 9.8% African American, 0.8% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 11.0% Asian American, 0.1% Pacific Islander American, 6.15% two or more races. Reseda's median age was 33 years with an average household size of 3.05 persons. Median household income in 1999 was $40,792.

Northridge earthquake

It is not widely known that the epicenter of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake was actually in Reseda. The epicenter at first was reported as being in San Fernando, then a few hours later "somewhere near Northridge", and was pinpointed in Reseda (near the intersection of Wilbur Avenue and Saticoy Street) about a week later. By this point, however, the media had dubbed it the "Northridge" earthquake. According to professors Christine M. Rodrigue, Eugenie Rovai, and Susan E. Place of California State University, Chico, this reveals a demographic bias on the part of the media at the time. Northridge is a much more upscale community than Reseda. [1] For example, per capita income in Northridge is $24,122 while in Reseda it is $15,142. For the State of California, that figure is $16,409 (US Census 1990).

Television, movies, and music

A number of motion pictures have been produced and set in Reseda and other parts of the San Fernando Valley. Films set in Reseda include The Karate Kid and Terminator 2: Judgment Day', with its car chase scenes down the channel of the Los Angeles River.

Tom Petty immortalized Reseda in his song "Free Fallin'" with the lines:

It's a long day living in Reseda

There's a freeway runnin' through the yard

And I'm a bad boy cos I don't even miss her

I'm a bad boy for breakin' her heart

Incidentally, there are no freeways within Reseda's boundaries. In the 1970s there were proposals to build a freeway, called the Whitnall Freeway, west to east through the middle of Reseda, but it was never approved.

Soul Coughing mentions Reseda in their song "Screenwriter's Blues":

you live

in Los Angeles

and you are going to

Reseda; we are all

in some way or

another going to

Reseda someday

to die

The Mountain Goats mention Reseda in their song "High Doses #2"

called up my sister in Reseda,

left a message at the tone.

all the points where contact fails us

all of the dead spots in the zone

The 1974 Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention release Roxy & Elsewhere contains, on the song Dummy Up, a reference to the city as Napoleon Murphy Brock's character is asked where he is from during a vamp in the song and he is scoffed at by Zappa when he replies he is from Reseda.

In the film Boogie Nights, the night club scenes were filmed at The Country Club (now a church) on Sherman Way, a block east of Reseda Boulevard. The long opening shot tracks from the marquee of The Reseda Theatre (actually long closed) down the block and across a side street to the club entrance, then inside. The donut shop holdup takes place several blocks east of the club, which is the donut shop on Sherman Way called Miss Donuts, which used to be a Winchell's Donuts and the scene where Dirk Diggler prostitutes himself in a pickup truck was filmed in the Bank of America parking lot across the street from the donut shop.

Several prominent scenes from the film Magnolia, also directed by Anderson, were filmed near the intersection of Sherman Way and Reseda, about half a block away from The Country Club.

In the 1984 film The Karate Kid, character Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio had just moved to Reseda from New Jersey. The apartment building that Daniel lived in is on Saticoy St., and the scene where Daniel is being chased in the empty field is next to the apartment building.

In the film Erin Brockovich, certain scenes were filmed near Sherman Way and Yolanda Ave.

The show My Name is Earl is often filmed in Reseda, captured to look like rural small town America. One episode was about a hot dog stand which was filmed on the corner of Saticoy and Reseda at home plate.

Features

• The business and cultural centers of Reseda are Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way.

• Reseda is home to a large duck pond that lies inside Reseda Park at the corner of Reseda Blvd. and Victory Blvd. During the 1950s and 1960s the duck pond also had a boathouse where one could rent electric boats by the hour.

• The Country Club, of Boogie Nights fame, was a legendary concert venue during the Los Angeles Punk rock and New Wave scenes of the 1980s. Before that it was a drug store named Sav-on Drugs and discount store. It is located on Sherman Way at Canby Avenue. It is now a Spanish Language Christian Church.

• The Reseda Theater is a Reseda Landmark that is in the works to be turned into a Food and Entertainment venue due by the end of 2008.

Emergency services

Fire service

Los Angeles Fire Department Station 73 (Reseda) and Station 100 (West Van Nuys/Lake Balboa) serve the community.

Police service

Los Angeles Police Department operates the nearby West Valley Community Police Station [2].

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Reseda High School

Like other areas of the city of Los Angeles, Reseda is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (SOCES), formerly Sequoia Junior High School lies adjacent to Reseda Park; it is not in or near the community of Sherman Oaks, its former location. Comprehensive high schools serving the area include Reseda High School, which opened in 1955, and Grover Cleveland High School, the largest school in Reseda.

Magnolia Science Academy, a charter school founded in 2002, is located near the corner of Etiwanda and Sherman Way [3].

Public libraries

Los Angeles Public Library operates the West Valley Regional Branch.

Trivia

Northridge Hospital & Medical Center, despite the name, is south of Roscoe Boulevard in Reseda. It has its own unique zip code of 91328. The rest of Reseda shares 91335 or P.O. boxes share 91337. North of Roscoe is 91325.

• Reseda is the hometown of Pamela Miller Des Barres, the former groupie.
• The abbreviation for Reseda is RSD.

External links

• The Reseda Neighborhood Council
• Americassuburb.com: historical blog that catalogs early valley history
• Community news, trivia, photos and links
• Reseda High History, and links to all classes back to 1957